NEW DELHI -- At least 11 people were killed and 50 others injured Wednesday in a stampede outside a cricket stadium in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, multiple local media reports said.
The stampede occurred outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the city, where thousands of cricket fans gathered to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) first Indian Premier League (IPL) title victory. (India-Stampede-Casualties)
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KIEV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Wednesday that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to carry out a prisoner exchange under the "500-for-500" formula this weekend, the Ukrinform news agency reported.
"The Russian side has informed us that this weekend it will be ready to hand over 500 individuals ... Accordingly, we will be ready to exchange the same number of people," Zelensky said after consultations between Kiev and Moscow regarding the swap. (Ukraine-Russia-Conflict)
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TEHRAN -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the U.S. proposal for a nuclear deal that would prohibit any uranium enrichment, emphasizing that uranium enrichment is a 'key' component of Tehran's nuclear program.
Iran's leader said the nuclear industry was not solely for the generation of clean and cheap energy, as it was a "parent industry, which affects numerous scientific areas," including those pertaining to manufacturing medical devices, the aerospace sector, among others. (Iran-Nuclear Industry-US)
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TOKYO -- The number of births in Japan in 2024 fell below 700,000 for the first time since statistics were first compiled in 1899, marking a decline for the ninth straight year, government data showed Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 686,061 babies were born to Japanese nationals in 2024, down 5.7 percent, or 41,227, from the previous year.
Japan's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is estimated to bear during her lifetime, also fell to a record low of 1.15, down from 1.20 in 2023, the ministry said. (Japan-Births) ■
